Effective Conversation Skills

Effective Conversation Skills – We all have been in a situation where we are trying to talk to somebody but we are unable to interact or break the ice or it may so happen that we don’t know what to speak. In this episode, Ms. Suchitra Surve talks on effective conversation skills. Today a lot of youngers and individuals find it difficult to maintain a conversation and is one of the most sought-after soft skills it is important to equip yourself with the required skills of conversation; the art of conversing.

Conversation means the exchange of ideas, thoughts, and feelings in an informal way; but what stops us from being conversant? First and for most maybe you feel shy, you do not know the language or there is an issue while talking to the opposite gender or it can also be fear of making mistakes or people will laugh at me, or there is a fear of ridicule these can be the aspects that most of us fear from conversing with somebody or try to avoid the conversations. Another aspect of avoiding conversation could be not knowing a topic, you don’t know what to talk about and this happens often. So, let’s understand how you can identify and handle certain aspects of conversations. To understand the various components of conversations there are six main aspects first one being starting, entering, maintain, changing, taking turns, and winding up.

These 6 components should help you out to make a success out of any interaction that you have. So how to start a conversation, it is simple, say Hi, Hello or greet or even introduce yourself may choose a common and comfortable topic to initiate the interaction and once you are more confident make your entry a little stronger. So how do you enter a conversation? Generally, it happens a group is already conversing and you don’t know how to enter or maybe you are a little shy about how to join in the conversation; in such case, a simple way is to try and seek their attention probably by making eye contact with somebody or simply at times straight by joining and saying I have a point to add and ensure you continue speaking. Sometimes it is advisable to wait for a pause or break in the conversation; once you find that little gap start speaking and continue speaking and that’s how you can enter the conversation.

Next and the most important part is maintaining the conversation. Sometimes it is easier to do the initial small talk but after that how to maintain it? The best way is to start asking relevant questions dig a little deeper into the topic and share your experiences and go on adding the points Once you are deep into the topic at times it might get little aggressive so it makes sense to change the topic or maybe you are into the topic which you are not too much aware of so what do you do? May be to ask “can we change the topic” or just say we have discussed enough can we move ahead; this is also a good way of ensuring you move to the next level.

Once you change the topic it is essential to figure out whether you are the speaker or the listener in the conversation which means taking turns. If you realize you are talking too much have patience and ask your listener if they have any questions or something to share. If you be the listener, its time that you share that you also have some points to add to the conversation. And finally, it is winding it up. Winding or closing the loop is as much essential as initiating the conversation. You may ask for another time to continue or say we had enough discussion lets continue next time. This is how you will go about the conversations.

While doing so ensure that you read well, your polite, show genuine interest in the person and the topic. Don’t feel shy, don’t feel the pressure that you don’t know a particular language or you are taking to somebody may be of authority or of the opposite gender. Be comfortable in sharing your own thoughts; you never know what kind of value additions your thoughts will be doing to the other person. I hope you have got some insights about how to go about conversing.